Northwoods GeoCats

Making the world a better place - one cache at a time.

Geocaching is a global game of hide-and-seek for global positioning system (gps) users. Participants hide geocaches and then others, using global positioning satellites, seek out the hidden caches. In addition, players move traceable items from cache to cache all over the world. Follow the GeoCats as they cache their way through life.

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Who are the GeoCats?

A couple of cool cats from central Minnesota, known in the geo-community as wayfarer222 and tonka_boy. Some of wayfarer's art work is avaliable on greeting cards. You can find them at Zazzle.com (Click on photo to see more.)

This rustic still life painting features some of the best ingredients for a great marinara sauce—onions, garlic, tomatoes, and of course, a host of spices. The stage is set on this farm country sideboard for a yummy dinner. It's pasta tonight! (Click on the photo to visit wayfarer's website.)

You all really think this is a good idea? Burying a full sized coffin in a state park? That's about as stupid as your 'adventures' that involve digging around on private property. I suggest you research your caches more carefully and use some common sense.

Our comment to the anon poster:
Wow, I sense a little hostility here. If one might want to read the entire set of linked posts about this cache, one would learn that the coffin was not buried. Nor was it in a state park. And the park in which it was placed had no defined geocaching policy. So the cache was entirely legal (as the police finally realized). In the end, we find that the cache was within the rules of the park and the geocaching community.

Geocaching is just a game. If you really don't like it, just ignore it.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The purpose was to find and collect clues from 12 Halloween themed geocaches, and use those clues to find the bonus cache - a full sized toe-pincher coffin, complete with skeleton and traditional ammo can.

Last February it was voted as the Minnesota Cache of the Month by member of the Minnesota Geocaching Association.

Here's some comments from the cache listing:

Fabulous! Certainly the granddaddy of all geocaches! The form for which all geocaches should strive.

Wow! What an awesome end to the Halloween 2008 Series! I don't think anyone could come up with anything to top this cache!

My five-year old daughter was SO excited that we finally managed to get out and find this one before it got any colder. ...Thank you so much for this series - I think she'll remember it when she's much older.

What an unbelievable series and some of the coolest containers ever!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! And that doesn't even begin to show my appreciation for all of your hard work and time that you put into these Halloween 2008 caches.

AWSOME! This has to be one of our favorite caches of all time.

Absolutely outstanding - A cache that has to be seen to be believed!

Well it seems that a couple of muggles accidentally stumbled across the coffin in the woods, and instead of going along with the fun, reported it to the Dakota County Sheriffs Department.

Officials immediately went into CYA mode, and hauled the cache out. Here's the final log from the cache listing...

The Dakota County Park Service is pretending that geocaching doesn't exist when there are dozens and dozens of caches in OUR parks. On top of that, there are hundreds of website articles and web archives indicating the contrary. They may be attempting to make me, and one of my prolific and popular geocaches an example. And for that, they will get nothing from me in terms of providing geocaching entertainment. This cache has been pulled and will be archived by the end of the week. Thank you all kind and reasonable people who have enjoyed my geocaches over the years.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Ah, spring! A time when hope flows eternal. A time for renewal and re-growth. A time for geocaching without ticks, spiders, and mosquitoes.

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Minnesota. The temperature peaked at near 70 degrees, and the snow that fell last November is almost gone.

We decided on one of the nearby regional parks, and like last week, the trails were ice packed and slippery. The ice had melted In places where the sun was able to shine through the trees, leaving slippery mud instead of ice. Some very tricky hiking, indeed!

The first cache we found was guarded by a dead squirrel. Seriously! It was actually a stuffed squirrel - as in taxidermy - and was part of the camo. But upon first spotting it, I couldn't tell. I poked it with a stick a few times, just to be sure.

The second cache we found was a very clever hide inside a great big tree beacon. We almost gave up on that one, when Wayfarer reviewed one of the recent posts describing how they had accidentally fond it.

The third was a micro hidden amongst the branches of another downed tree. Again, if not for the logs of previous finders, we may not have found that one. Definitely not winter friendly! On to number 300, which we found - but that's another story.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

But we did some island geocaching yesterday. The difference, this time we walked to the island.

I admit, that concept might confuse our faithful California readers. But around here, walking on water isn't an exercise reserved only for the Faithful. The water looked something more like this.

This is a shot of Lola's Lakehouse back on dry land.

And here's an aerial view of the lake. Lola's was our starting point, directly south of the island. For reference, it is exactly 1/2 mile from shore to the island at that point.

We scored the two geocaches on the island, but the really cool part was the winter walk. (Sorry.) I'm talking about 18 degrees of cool - with a 10 MPH breeze. It was a brisk walk out there. Once in the shelter of the island, though, it was quite comfortable.

The island is hilly and crisscrossed with trails. Once we neared the caches we did some bushwhacking that took us through knee-deep snowdrifts.

in 1886, Lambert Naegle purchased the island in Waconia Lake for $5,200 and built on it a resort hotel. He named his resort the "Coney Island of the West." The name could have come from as many as three sources: 1)It was named after the more famous Coney Island of the East, in Brooklyn. 2)It is a shortened version of the town's name, Waconia. 3)It was named such after the area's high population of "conies," or rabbits.

In 1889 Reinhold Zeglin bought and operated the hotel complex. Legend has it that period celebrities such as Mark Twain and Al Capone visited during this period.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Frank "Shorty" Dvorak owned and operated the dining, dance, cottage, day camp, and launch facilities on the island.

Today, it's all in ruins - the resort cabins, lodge buildings, and homes.